Thursday, April 28, 2016

LADIES OF TOO SLOW TO DISCO: MORE LATE 70s WEST COAST YACHT POP YOU CAN ALMOST DANCE TO

A great set of tracks that's billed as music "you can almost dance to" – and which hits this sweet midtempo groove throughout – filled with female vocals, and served up in a wicked soulful style of AOR! The collection's an excellent all-girl companion to the previous Too Slow To Disco sets – and may well be the best so far, as there's a current of soul that maybe didn't show up that strongly before – as the singers unabashedly go for deeper modes in some of their vocals, while the instrumental side of the tracks glow nicely with sweet keyboards, riffing guitars, and just the right touch of slightly funky rhythms! There's plenty of gems here we might have overlooked otherwise – definitely the best side of the "yacht rock" revival of the past few years – and tracks include "You Can Do It" by Evie Sands, "Be Here In The Morning" by Renee Geyer, "Gotta Lotta" by Lauren Wood, "It's The Falling In Love" by Carol Baker Sayer, "Crazy" by Valerie Carter, "Isn't It Something" by Franne Golde, "Opening Up To You" by Laura Allen, "Temptation" by Leah Kunkel, "Disco Tech" by Carole King, "Dance The Night Away" by Doris Abrahams, and "Take Me With You" by Lyn Christopher. (Includes download.) ~ Dusty Groove

THE BO-KEYS
- HEARTACHES BY THE NUMBER

The Bo-Keys
have been a rock-solid force on the Memphis scene for a number of years – and
here, they take an even deeper step into the city's rich soul history – by
making space on the record for performances by classic Memphis soul singers
Percy Wiggins, Don Bryant, and The Masqueraders! Wiggins gets the most space
here – and opens up in a way that shows hardly any change in his abilities
since his early singles for the Goldwax label – maybe more of a sense of
experience in the way he puts over the lyrics, given some nice deep soul
backings from the Bo-Keys, who burn nicely in a blend of organ and horns.
Bryant and The Masqueraders each on one song – Wiggins on the others – and
titles include "Learned My Lesson In Love", "Set Me Free",
"The Longer You Wait", "Wasted Days & Wasted Nights",
"Last Date", and "I Threw It All Away". ~ Dusty Groove

SOIL &
PIMP SESSIONS– BLACK TRACK

Soil &
Pimp Sessions have been making music far longer than anyone else might do with
such a clunky name – and over the years, they've just gotten better and better,
and found rich new ways to express themselves! This album may well be the
group's best so far – and represents a continuing change from the breakneck
rhythms and intense solos of the past, to territory that's even more
fully-formed – and which has the group embracing some spiritual and soulful
currents we never would have heard a few years back! Some tracks have a
righteous vibe, and almost an early 70s spiritual jazz approach – while a few
others feature guest vocalists in the lead, and have a soulful sparkle that
works equally well. The result is a sound that's got the sort of majesty you
might expect from the cover image – and titles include "By Your
Side", "Connected", "Black Milk", "Papaya Pai
Pai", "88 9th Avenue", "Soilogic", "Simoom",
"Mellow Black", and a nice version of "Cantaloupe
island".~ Dusty Groove

60s soul
treasures – served up here in glorious mono – all as part of this wonderful
tribute to the legendary Loma Records label! Loma was a small imprint that was
part of Warner Brothers in the late 60s – and acted more like an LA-based indie
label, with a quality level that rivals the best from New York, Detroit, and
Chicago at the time – even Memphis, given that Loma had a surprisingly great
ear for deep soul – in a way that few west coast imprints had during the 60s.
The mix of modes here is wonderful – from upbeat groovers, to female soul
killers, to some especially hard-burning male vocal numbers – in a set list
that includes "The Dam Busted" by Carl Hall, "You Can't Outsmart
A Woman" by Kell Osborne, "Too Late" by JJ Jackson, "Good
Time" by The Mighty Hannibal, "Help Yourself" by Larry Lester,
"Callin" by Lonnie Youngblood, "Your Search is Over" by
Walter Foster, "Rainin In My Heart" by The Olympics, "There's
Something On Your Mind (part 1)" by Baby Lloyd, and "Try" by
Lorraine Ellison. ~ Dusty Groove

THE NEW
MASTERSOUNDS – THE NASHVILLE SESSIONS

The New
Mastersounds, working live in the studio in a Nashville setting – hardly
country at all, and sounding every bit as funky as before! In fact, the quartet
may have hit a new level of sharpness here – as the album came at the end of a
tight six week tour of the US, when the musicians had been working together
night after night – and come across here with a mindblowing quality that has us
marveling all over again at the way they can be super-tight, yet never slick –
always sharp, yet never arrogant – as they soar to the skies on an effortless
flurry of guitar, organ, bass, and drums! There's no other accompaniment at all
– no vocals, no overdubs either – and every number is a stone funky instrumental
– with titles that include "Drop It Down", "The Minx",
"Coming Up Roses", "Carrot Juice", "The Vandenburg
Suite", "Made For Pleasure", and a great take on the funky
classic "In The Middle". (Limited to 1000 copies – with bonus
download!) ~ Dusty Groove

CARLOS NINOS
& FRIENDS – FLUTES, ECHOES, IT’S ALL HAPPENING

The title
here certainly gets at the spirit of the record – as it's definitely all
happening in the world of Carlos Nino these days – a musician who just keeps on
pushing his own boundaries in recent years – and that's saying a lot, as Carlos
was pretty out there from the start! This set has Nino exploring some of his
more deeply spiritual sides – with more of a mix of electronic elements than
before, yet still some of the jazz currents from his early days too – in this
cosmic blend of styles that shifts from track to track, yet never sounds
incoherent at all. Instead, the whole thing's more like a unified journey in
sound – with stops along the way for key guest performers, a lineup that
includes contributions from Kamasai Washington, Iasos, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson,
Nate Morgan, Yaakov Levy, and Dexter Story! With folks like that on hand, the
journey's a great one – and titles include "Alice's Chord Live",
"Calimayan", "Jupiter Sings", "Metamaravilla",
"Joyous Gratitude Live", "Delightfulllll/Waterfall",
"4 Directions Collage", and "Aetheriaztlan". (Includes
download with bonus track!)~ Dusty
Groove

A French
combo, but one who really love the best styles of 70s Latin from the New York
scene – particularly the funky current that was only handled by a few great
acts at the time! These guys effortlessly mix electric bass, keyboards, and
guitar with rootsier elements on percussion – and forge a groove that's warmly
soulful, and has all the sweet glow of the image on the cover – a combination
of the group's own European origins and their inspirations from Manhattan – in
a sound that gets especially strong on the one number that features guest
vocals from Joe Bataan! Yet even without Joe, the sound is pretty wonderful –
with vocals that are more often handled by the group as a whole, in a laidback
way – which leaves plenty of room for them to stretch out instrumentally,
especially on keyboards. Titles include "My Rainbow", "Madam
Shingaling", "Genius", "Da Manha", "Dansa
Chango", "Tcha Bell", and "Power Of Your Smile". ~ Dusty Groove

ROBERTA
CAMPOS – TODO CAMINHO E SORTE

Lovely work
from Roberta Campos – a contemporary Brazilian singer/songwriter, and one who
works in a nicely universal style! Most tracks have light acoustic guitar
underscoring Roberta's lyrics – which are well-penned and personal, without
ever being cloying – almost in a tradition that reminds us of some of the more
impressive English language talents of this nature from the 80s and early 90s.
Marcelo Camelo guests on the hit single "Amiude" – and other titles
include "Porta Retrata", "Pro Dia Que Chega", "Cirandar",
"Libelula", "Minha Felicidade", and "Ensaio Sobre O
Amor". ~ Dusty Groove

THE
RELATIVES – GOODBYE WORLD

A bold return to form for The Relatives – a legendary
gospel funk group from the 70s Texas scene – finally brought back to their
former strengths on this contemporary set! The approach is very old school – a
strong focus on the excellent vocal interplay of the group, and the strong
leads of Rev Gean West, who passed away during the course of the recording –
with backing by a tight funky combo who's main job is just the emphasize the
inherent soulful sounds in the vocals, and never get too much in the way!
Basslines are nice and deep, which makes even the mellower tracks sound mighty
heavy – and the sense of spirit here is less churchy, and more righteous from a
social perspective – as you'll hear on the cuts "Rational
Culture/Testimony", "This World Is Moving Too Fast", "He
Never Sleeps", "No Man Is An Island" ~ Dusty Groove

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Featured
This Week On The Jazz Network Worldwide:
Jazz Trumpeter, Hasani Arthur With A Sneak Peek of His CD ‘Jazz Revamp’
with his new single ‘Midnight Bed-stuy AKA King Arthur” Featuring Dame-o
Hodges.

The jazz
world gets a special treat this week as Hasani Arthur releases his single
“Midnight Bed-stuy AKA King Arthur featuring Dame-o Hodges. Hasani’s quest with his latest album Jazz
Revamp ”King Arthur," is to expose jazz to his younger fans and being
Promoted On Top Sites.

Hasani
Arthur he is a writer, producer and composer who is classically trained by the
most prestigious music institutions which include: The Julliard School (MAP),
New York City All Jazz High School Band, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Brooklyn
Conservatory of Music, and the Brooklyn Music & Arts Program.

Hasani’a
signature sound was derived from his influences such as Wynton Marsalis, John
Coltrane, Billie Holiday, George Benson, Grover Washington Jr., Bill Withers
and many others. ”I love the swinging big-band sounds of Louis Armstrong and
Duke Ellington but also love infusion music, when you listen to my music, you
will hear a blend of Jazz, Soul and Hip Hop” says Arthur.

Always
taking his artistry to another level through his competitive spirit, he
appeared along with Innovative Soundz on Amateur Night at the Apollo and was
one of the winner’s on Seeking Satch Trumpet Contest. In 2011 and was asked to
be apart of KENDRICK LAMAR "RIGAMORTIS video.

Arthur’s
2016 campaign started off with a bang with a calculated number of views to date
on Reverbnation showing an impressive start at 177,650 views from his dedicated
fans. In addition to this positive force moving straight ahead to his dreams,
he added another facet of his artistry by composing the music for Tropicana
Soca song “Come On Over.”

As a
producer, Hasani not only mentors artists, he creates beats and composes songs
through his NYC studio related to all media.

“You can
truly hear his jazz influences in his work flavored with ‘today’s contemporary
genre integrations, an innovative blend of all his influences that evokes a
sense of his musical

heart from today’s universe of musicality honoring the
masters of jazz in his melodic steps” says Jaijai Jackson, owner of The Jazz
Network Worldwide.

Hasani will
be performing Saturday, April 30th at 1pm in the Apple Room at JALC for Eli
Yamin’s 10th anniversary concert and the last as a director for Jazz At Lincoln
Center's MSJA Program.

Following
two critically acclaimed organ group outings, New York saxophonist-composer Dan
Pratt heads in a different direction on Hymn for the Happy Man, his fourth
recording overall and debut for his own Same Island Music imprint. "After
eight years, the organ group had a great run, and I found myself looking for
something new to do," explains the California native and longtime Brooklyn
resident. "So for this record I decided to go with the
piano-bass-drums-sax quartet instrumentation, which is so foundational to jazz.
It was one of those things that was staring me straight in the face and I
couldn't see it, but on reflection it was such clear choice. I'd never recorded
a quartet record, and to go in the direction I wanted to go, I felt I needed to
explore an instrumentation that is such an essential strand to jazz's
DNA."

Pratt
assembled his "dream team" of bassist Christian McBride, drummer
Gregory Hutchinson and pianist Mike Eckroth to help him realize seven
well-crafted originals and breathe new life into one well-chosen standard. The
saxophonist-composer, a member of McBride's big band, heaps high praise on his
stellar sidemen for this simpatico session. "McBride and Hutch are
incredibly open-minded and agile musicians. Christian is one of a kind. He has
a pulse that is really unimpeachable and super singular. There's nobody who
plays the bass like him. Add to that his warmth and positivity, and you have a
paragon of musicianship as well as humanity. With Greg, I didn't tell him
anything except for two or three words about the concept of a piece, and he
just gave me something different with every take. Often, it was hard to decide
on a take because everything he did was so incredibly compelling. The kind of
surprises that I got from Christian and Greg were so delightful; they were
things that I could never imagine explaining or asking for.

"And
I'm super happy with what Mike played," Pratt continues. "What he was
playing behind me felt like he really understood where I was going, what I was
playing, and the ideas behind the harmonies of my tunes. And the more
adventurous I was, the more into it he was. It's nice to know that I've got
that strong ear behind me so when I want to go in a freer direction he always
hears it, and he hears it in a melodic context, too."

The foursome
kicks off the program with the off-kilter, Monkish "Gross Blues,"
which has Hutchinson flowing freely over the bar line while McBride keeps
steady time with his inimitable groove. "I didn't tell Greg anything but
'Keep it loose and trashy,' and that's what he came up with," recalls
Pratt. Eckroth feeds the saxophonist dissonant voicings, nudging him
harmonically into some passionate, upper register wailing. McBride also
delivers a typically chops-laden solo on this urgent opener.

Pratt
affects a singing quality through the rich harmonic terrain of "New
Day," and for good reason. "I wrote it after I met the woman who is
now my wife, and I just felt this incredible elation," he explains.
"It's different than when you meet someone you're smitten with. It's a
feeling when you meet somebody and you realize that there is this life-partner
potential; a person who brings out the best in you, who inspires you to be the
best that you can be, and that inspiration happens by her being who she
is." Hutchinson's playing on this breezy, uplifting number is lively and
highly interactive. "He totally elevates the piece throughout the whole
thing," says Pratt. "What he's playing has this wonderful arc that
really fits the spirit of the tune."

Hutchinson's
sparse mallet work helps set the darkly delicate tone of "River,"
which is cast in the vein of such ruminative classics as Wayne Shorter's
"Fall" or Miles Davis' "Flamenco Sketches." As the composer
explains, "Most of my tunes can be sort of active, and I wanted to write
something that was more patient; a tune whose activity lived within its
patience. So I was thinking of the reflective nature of watching a river, not
really being in the flow of the river but rather reflecting on the river's flow
itself, that staid kind of strength but also fluidity."

The
effervescent "Warsaw" has Pratt switching to alto sax and burning a
blue streak over Hutchinson's highly-charged pulse as McBride's contrapuntal
lines add layers of intrigue. "Alto is very new for me," says Pratt,
who started on baritone saxophone in eighth grade before switching to tenor
later in high school. "I just got the alto not even a year before this
recording session and I was so enamored with the sound that I decided to record
a couple tunes with it. I just thought for range and timbre it provided
something a little different on this tune."

Pratt
returns to tenor for the loose second line vibe of "Junket" and the
moody, alluring "Riddle Me Rhumba" before pulling out the alto again
on the buoyant "Hymn for the Happy Man," a title which fits his own
personal philosophy. "It was written in tribute to the humanity that
chooses to strive toward deeper happiness; not circumstantial happiness but
happiness from within," he explains. "It's to celebrate espousing
happiness and a forward-thinking kind of mentality and spirit."

The
collection closes with Pratt's unique interpretation of the Kurt Weill-penned
jazz standard "Speak Low," which incorporates some clever rhythmic
devices to break things up in intriguing ways. "I realized that I'm
increasingly interested in playing with space and form, and I want to carry
that same sense of joy and play in the music that I write through my
arrangements as well," he explains. "So this arrangement is an
example of that kind of playfulness. It starts out like any other standard
arrangement of 'Speak Low' in a count-it-off-at-a-jam-session kind of way, but
there's a lot of very specific and subtle treatments done to the form and chord
progression that just basically open up places where you wouldn't necessarily
normally have them opened up. I'm really just looking for opportunities for the
unexpected to occur."

Those kinds
of surprises are prevalent throughout Hymn for the Happy Man, which stands as
Pratt's most ambitious and fully-realized recording to date.

"A
modern day saxophone colossus" (Echoes); "The finest improvisational
genius of our time" (Bop-N-Jazz); "one of the great saxophone
virtuosi and exponents of spontaneous composition to have emerged in the past
three decades" (Jazzwise) - these represent just some of the accolades
that pour in with each new set of releases by Ivo Perelman. This extraordinary
artist continues to map new territory for his chosen instrument, the tenor
saxophone. And by regularly releasing multiple albums documenting his
explorations, he provides listeners with multiple avenues into his music.

But the
release of five albums at once (all available on Leo Records) signifies a
herculean effort even for Perelman. What's more, each of these albums presents
a different array of musical cohorts, a different format, and a different
concept. "Interestingly," Perelman notes, "this grouping of
albums will feature all of the musicians that I've been collaborating with in
the past several years"--a list that comprises violist Mat Maneri,
keyboardists Matthew Shipp and Karl Berger, bassists Michael Bisio and Joe
Morris (who also plays acoustic guitar), and drummers Gerald Cleaver and Whit
Dickey.

Three of
these albums--the duo discs Corpo and Blue, and the quartet effort Soul--were
recorded in a two-week period; they exploit a major theoretical breakthrough
that Perelman experienced on an extended stay in Brazil, the nation of his
birth. In Autumn of 2015, he traveled to São Paolo to oversee a major
exhibition of his work in the visual arts. (Perelman spends approximately half
his time producing highly-sought drawings and paintings.) He ended up staying
nearly half a year, far removed from the daily grind of his life in New York,
and this hiatus "put my brain in a different mode," he said upon his
return. "I got away from the need to 'achieve' something. I relaxed."

He also
began to revisit the serialist (12-tone) composers--Arnold Schönberg, Alban
Berg, Anton Webern--which led to an important realization. The core tenet of
serialism is that each note in the scale exerts equal weight; from that,
Perelman focused on the corollary that each interval--the distance between any
pitch and the one that follows--should be treated with the same egalitarianism.
"The intervallic system has become my dogma now," he explains in the
liner notes to Corpo. "Every interval is of equal importance...I don't
have to be modal, or tonal, or atonal. All the intervals, a third or a seventh
or a fifth, these all have the same importance for me now." This has led
to new practice regimens and a corresponding emancipation of Perelman's already
fluid approach to melody as well as timbre.

Corpo, the
first album recorded by Perelman upon his return to New York, stars pianist
Matthew Shipp, the saxophonist's longtime musical soul-mate. In 14 tracks of
moderate length, the disc offers evidence of Perelman's new "intervallic
system," as well as a purified distillation of an ever-evolving musical
partnership that has been compared to Brubeck/Desmond and Coltrane/Tyner. Says
pianist Shipp, in his liner essay for the album: "Corpo is the ultimate
coming together of everything Ivo and I have been working on for years. . . .
the apotheosis of the Perelman/Shipp duo cosmos. Our [previous album] Callas
was a breakthrough for us; Corpo is the ultimate flowering."

One week
after Corpo, Perelman and Shipp returned to the studio; they were joined by
bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Whit Dickey to record Soul, which, as its
name suggests, constitutes a companion piece to Corpo (the Portuguese word for
"body"). More than simply "fleshing out" the Perelman-Shipp
duo, the added musicians - whose many sessions with Perelman have given them
intimate knowledge of how his music takes shape, in the studio, and without
pre-existing blueprints for the improvisations - effortlessly integrate
themselves into these performances. "Bisio underscores the music with
supple muscle, finding valuable notes in between those that make up Shipp's
chords," writes liner annotator Neil Tesser, while "Dickey adds color
and texture that peer into the swirl of melodies and light them from
within."

Then, one
week after the Soul date, Perelman met with bassist/guitarist Joe Morris to
record Blue. The album marks the first time Perelman, despite all the shifting
contextual landscapes shaping his career, has ever recorded in a duo of tenor
sax and unamplified guitar. "With an instrument that has resonance, where
the notes have a long decay," Perelman explains, "you're always being
fed and nourished as the sound remains in mid-air. But with acoustic guitar,
the moment that Joe lifts his finger from the string, the sound dies. You're
all alone. So that was the challenge for me, to play with something so
soft-spoken." None of the tracks are actual 12- or 16-bar blues
compositions, of course, since nothing was composed prior to what took place in
the studio; rather, says the musician/painter, "It has the feeling of the
color blue," in all the variations of that hue.

The
Hitchhiker marks another "first" for Perelman; it pairs him with Karl
Berger on vibraphone to mark the only time in the saxophonist's career that he
has recorded with that instrument. Perelman first worked with Berger - the
pioneering composer and arranger of new music (within and beyond jazz) and
co-founder, with Ornette Coleman, of the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock,
New York - on Reverie (2014), but on that project, Berger played piano. The
vibraphone has a reduced potential for the thick chords available to a pianist,
so in that sense, says Perelman, "he's giving me a condensed scheme"
of harmonic potentialities. A possible pitfall? No; it only "made me focus
more," says Perelman.

The final
album in this release, The Breaking Point, continues Perelman's highly
successful partnership with violist Mat Maneri, but this time in a quartet
format; previous Perelman-Maneri matchups had occurred only in duo or trio
settings. "I had in my mind what it would sound like in a more powerful
setting, with drums," says Perelman. With bassist Joe Morris and drummer
Gerald Cleaver, the disc constitutes yet one more rarity for Perelman: in his
entire discography, this is the third time he has ever employed the
"traditional" free-jazz format of bass and drums supporting two
front-line melody instruments. In the progression of its seven tracks, the
album functions as a sort of expanded symphonic suite.

After ten
years of touring the world, Hazmat Modine’s third studio album,
Extra-Deluxe-Supreme, digs deeper into American soil.

Ten years
ago, Barbès Records released Hazmat Modine’s debut album, Bahamut, which
quickly went on to become a cult classic. Pitchfork probably captured it best
by describing it as “generalized roots music that takes from pretty much any
roots it sees fit,” and went on to praise the album as “true world music, weird
and wonderful to the last note.”

Now ten
years later, Barbès is releasing Hazmat Modine’s third studio album:
Extra-Deluxe-Supreme: an artistic statement that is the culmination of ten
years of musical adventures around the world.

The new
album confirms Hazmat Modine’s place as a band of outsiders oblivious to the
rules that govern today’s music scene. The group itself is a heterogeneous
collection of musicians with a fondness for odd instruments and an
all-inclusive view of what constitutes American music. Extra-Deluxe-Supreme is
their most classically American album to date. It draws from Gospel and
R&B, from Country Blues and early jazz, and displays a strong attention to
songcraft, inspired by a long line of American songwriters from Tin Pan Alley
to Stax and Motown.

Hazmat’s
sound is still defined by their signature tuba and harmonica, as well as their
original horn section, guitars and accordion – with the addition of your usual
assortment of marimba, doshpuluur, Igil, railroad spikes, claviola, rocks and
cimbalom.

Hazmat’s
eclecticism is probably what got them noticed in the first place. The band is
known for having collaborated with famed Tuvan throat singers Huun Tuur Tu, Benin’s
Gangbe Brass Band as well as Natalie Merchant. They count “American songwriting
and African music” as their “biggest influences,” and first got noticed by
German director Wim Wenders for the Calypso-like Bahamut, which Wenders
included in his movie Pina.

Extra-Deluxe-Supreme
does away with the more obvious genre hopping and exotic colors of its
predecessors. After ten years of leftfield collaborations and extensive touring
in places as varied as Siberia, Borneo, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand and
Turkey, Hazmat Modine seems to have absorbed it all and wholeheartedly embraces
its own forged identity as an American band with its own idea of what American
music means.

“Twenty
years ago” explains bandleader Wade Schuman “I had to sort through all the
complicated detritus of singing in an idiom that has its origins in Southern
and rural music but I also embrace being a New Yorker. I like the idea of a New
York music which by its nature is eclectic.”

One
essential New York tradition remains that of the professional songwriters,
starting with Tin Pan Alley and the likes of Irving Berlin (who inspired the
song Plans) “Tin Pan Alley affected everything. It was really about the idea of
a journeyman songwriter and the fact that we were creating our own music in the
20th century.” You could say that they created the template for all the
songwriting teams that would emerge later in Memphis, Detroit, or the Brill
Building.

In keeping
with the idea of a songwriting team, most of the songs on the album were
co-written by Wade Schuman and bandmate and guitarist Erik Della Penna.
“Sometimes I’ll write the verse, and Erik will write the chorus. Or if I have a
melody he will write the lyrics. We have absolutely no system,” says Schuman
about their collaboration. “Neither of us has a preconception of how to do
things”

Still,
Hazmat Modine has not renounced its fondness for eclectic sources and
transcultural feedback, as exemplified by their collaboration with Alash, another
band from Tuva. “I brought in the Tuvans again because I thought that they
intersect perfectly with a certain kind of American idiomatic language” says
Schuman. “On the song Your Sister for instance, I’m going for a kind of rural
American sound but the irony is that the Tuvans are playing their own version
of the fiddle and banjo and flute – it’s exactly where the tonality of Asia and
the Midwest meet.”

For the past
ten years, Hazmat has kept a busy touring schedule in most of Europe – with
forays into Asia and Latin America. The band has been the recipient of France’s
prestigious French Charles Cros Award, a German Records Award and was nominated
for a BBC award. Its US appearances, however, tend to be limited to their
hometown.

It is true
that Hazmat Modine may confuse American audiences. “In most bands everyone
looks kind of similar to each other but I think Hazmat doesn’t fit anybody’s
idea of a normal band. We are not one ecosystem” says Schuman. The band
includes men and women of all ages, blacks and whites, rock and jazz musicians.
The diversity is a reflection of Schuman’s wide range of interests. “I think
that’s an important ingredient to what the band is. I pick people who wouldn’t
naturally go together. People who have a very different background from me and
from each other.”

And indeed,
band members have all contributed different aspects of the American musical
experience Reeds player Steve Elson toured with Johnny Otis and then went on to
work with David Bowie for many years. Guitarist Michaela Gomez is a veteran of
the rich Brooklyn trad jazz scene. Trumpet player Pam Fleming has toured with
Burning Spear (and smoked weed with Fela in Lagos) Accordion player and singer
Rachelle Garniez has worked with Jack White and written for musical theater.
Erik Della Penna has toured and recorded with Natalie Merchant for over a
decade, as well as worked with Joan Baez and Joan Osborne. Drummer Tim Keiper
has spent years playing with Vieux Farka Toure, Cyro Baptista and the Dirty
Projectors. He has visited Mali numerous times to study calabash and N’goni.

Hazmat’s
only other original member, along with Schuman, is tuba player Joseph Daley.
“Joseph was my guru in a way because he saw something in the kind of raw band
leader that I was; he saw something that we could do.”

Joseph Daley
is a native New Yorker, born in Harlem to a West Indian family and raised on
the Lower East Side. As a teenager he started playing out with Latin musicians
such as Monguito Santamaria and Jerry Gonzalez. He went on to work with some of
the most influential artists of the past forty years including Sam Rivers,
Charlie Haden’s Liberation Orchestra, Taj Mahal and Howard Johnson.

The
heteroclite nature of the band remains one of its most defining characteristic
– and perhaps its main driver. The sense
of creative freedom and disregard for constraining rules that permeates Hazmat
Modine’s music is particularly evident on their latest album, which Schuman
calls “the product of a maturation of a kind of musical journey” “’

“I think our
band is like a really good NYC diner” concludes Schuman. “The food comes from
every tradition you can think of, but in the end it’s really the ultimate
American comfort food.”

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

The Detroit
Jazz Festival today announced its lineup for the 37th annual Labor Day Weekend
Festival that will feature an eclectic array of performers across varied styles
and generations from jazz legends, new artists to the scene and those at the
height of their careers, once again creating one-of-a-kind performances not
seen anywhere else. With Detroit native and jazz legend Ron Carter as
artist-in-residence, this year's festival has a decidedly Detroit flair, with
the annual Homecoming Series of performances taking an expanded role. With the
backdrop of Detroit's skyline, the world's largest free jazz festival will take
to the streets of downtown Detroit on September 2nd through 5th, 2016 with
hundreds of musicians gracing four stages.

"The jazz
tradition in Detroit is iconic and known worldwide. Today, it's a vibrant scene
that is constantly evolving and growing and our Festival, continues to nurture
and support it," said Gretchen Valade, chair of the Detroit Jazz Festival
Foundation Board of Directors. "With the wonderful Ron Carter as our
artist-in-residence, we are taking the music to a new level with the Detroit
connection. And, once again, we hope the Festival transcends the music itself
and gets people downtown to see and experience Detroit's distinct flavor. We
look forward to adding to Detroit's jazz tradition and another Labor Day
weekend to remember."

Legendary
bassist, Ron Carter--the most-recorded bassist in music history with more than
2,000 to his credit--is the cornerstone of this year's lineup and will perform
four times throughout the weekend including a nonet, trio, quartet and big band
sets.

In addition
to Carter's performances, other 2016 Homecoming Series Performances include:

David Weiss
and Point of Departure celebrate the music of Detroit legends Kenn Cox and
Charles Moore

Vanguard
Jazz Orchestra: Established by Thad Jones & Mel Lewis Celebrate 50 years at
the Village Vanguard

Gregoire
Maret & the Inner Voice Ensemble

Charnée Wade

Herlin Riley
Quintet

United
States Air Force Airmen of Note

To see the
full lineup, visit detroitjazzfest.com.

"Each
year, we make it a priority to create an artist lineup that's representative of
the many forms of jazz. The diverse nature of the genre promotes sonic
experimentation and exploration, creating a new experience with every song and
performance. It's our responsibility to capture this, to make sure we give that
thrilling experience of musical discovery to our attendees, and I think our
musicians this year will make that happen," said Chris Collins, president
of the Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation Board of Directors and artistic
director of the Festival. "We are dedicated to making this a jazz
experience to remember, one that is original, expressive and inimitable. We
can't wait to share it with Detroit."

To highlight
up-and-coming talent, the Detroit Jazz Festival invites musicians from metro
Detroit and across the globe to enter an annual jazz competition. This year's
competition, The 2016 Detroit Jazz Festival Ron Carter National Bass
Competition, is open to bassists 35 years of age or younger whose artistry
reflects the commitment to tradition and search for originality that are
tenants of Ron Carter's virtuosity.

With the
incentive of a performance slot at the Festival and monetary prizes, this year,
contestants will submit recordings which will be evaluated on artistic
excellence, creativity, group interaction, originality, familiarity with the
jazz vocabulary, and stylistic continuity. Applications must be submitted by
June 25, 2016 at http://www.detroitjazzfest.com/ron-carter-national-jazz-bass-competition.html.

The Detroit
Jazz Festival not only actively seeks out established and up and coming
musicians, but it also participates in education initiatives throughout the
year, helping cultivate the jazz culture in Detroit through workshops, student
performances and concert showcases. The Festival also has a positive impact on
economic activity with weekend activities, performances and
initiatives--bringing masses of people to downtown Detroit.

This Labor
Day weekend festival will take place in Hart Plaza and Campus Martius, downtown
Detroit. Jazz enthusiasts from around the world will be in attendance as these
acclaimed artists take over JPMorgan Chase Main Stage, Carhartt Amphitheater
Stage, the Waterfront Stage and the Pyramid Stage.

Mack Avenue Records has announced the acquisition of
the prestigious MAXJAZZ imprint. The announcement follows a landmark year for
Mack Avenue Records with five GRAMMY® Award-nominations and two wins for
bassist Christian McBride and vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant. To add to the
Detroit label's well-rounded catalog, MAXJAZZ boasts two of their own GRAMMY®
nominations for Carla Cook and Nancy King, and features recordings from
esteemed artists: Mulgrew Miller, René Marie, Russell Malone, Geoffrey Keezer,
and more.

Founded by the late Richard McDonnell in 1997, MAXJAZZ had
a reputation for being an artist-friendly label that took a long-term view of
partnership with their artists. With nearly 75 recordings, MAXJAZZ worked to
support and develop their artists with high quality recordings and recognizably
branded packaging. The label was also keen to establish long-running
relationships with some of the country's top jazz clubs, even releasing live
recordings from Jazz Standard, Yoshi's, Jazz at the Bistro, and more.

"We welcome MAXJAZZ to the Mack Avenue Records
family," says Mack Avenue Records president Denny Stilwell. "We see
this as an appropriate fit-we share a foundation based on a genuine passion for
the music, and their philosophical approach is really in line with our vision
for how artists and labels can work together." The dition of MAXJAZZ expands Mack Avenue Records'
growing label, which already includes the Artistry Music, Rendezvous Music, and
Sly Dog imprints.

Perdomo's
Montage is his eighth album as a leader but the first solo piano recording in
his distinguished career. After he'd begun playing solo concerts three years
ago, this ever-evolving artist reached out to his pianist friend Fred Hersch
"to fine-tune some aspects of my own solo playing." Of Montage, he
says, "I felt the time was right for me to do it, and I felt ready to take
on the challenge. I always loved the flexibility and freedom of being able to
take the music in different directions."

Repertoire on the new CD is an
intriguingly personal mix of favorite jazz and Songbook standards ("Monk's
Dream," "Body and Soul," Stanley Cowell's "Cal
Massey"), studio improvisations, and songs from his Caracas childhood that
left an indelible impression on him ("Mambo Mongo," "La Revuelta
de Don Fulgencio," the bolero "Si Te Contara"). While Montage
offers ample evidence of Perdomo's musical mastery, the pianist claims that he
wanted the music "to serve as a soundtrack for everyday life. You don't
have to go to Carnegie Hall and put on a suit to listen to this music."

Luis Perdomo
was born (1971) and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, where he received an
excellent music education from his father's vast LP collection and his teacher
Gerry Weil. He was awarded a scholarship to the Manhattan School of Music and
studied there with Harold Danko and Martha Pestalozzi, earning his B.A. in
1997; three years later he received his master's at Queens College after study
with Sir Roland Hanna. Perdomo became a first-class sideman, recording and/or
touring with Dave Douglas, Tom Harrell, Steve Turre, and many other jazz and
Latin artists. He was a member of Ravi Coltrane's Quartet for ten years, and is
a founding member of the Miguel Zenon Quartet. Among his recordings as a leader
are Focus Point (2005), Pathways (2008), Universal Mind (2012), and his 2015
Hot Tone Music debut, Twenty-Two, featuring his Controlling Ear Unit with Mimi
Jones and drummer Rudy Royston.

For her
third Hot Tone Music album, Feet in the Mud, Mimi Jones called on an
"amazing crew" consisting of her frequent drummer Jonathan Barber as
well as new colleagues Jon Cowherd on piano and Fender Rhodes and soprano
saxophonist Samir Zarif. They provide the perfect support for the leader's
deeply satisfying bass lines and haunting vocals, which are anchored in the
jazz tradition yet stylistically elastic enough to encompass other genres. Feet
in the Mud The CD, says Jones, is "a tribute to those who have left a huge
imprint on me and the world, as well as those who are still alive and making an
imprint as we speak. It's also about finding true joy within yourself, having
an open mind and spirit and a connection to the earth." Jones's originals
(among them "Lyman's Place," the buoyant "Elevate," and the
appealing opening track "Mr. Poo Poo") reflect these themes and
concerns; the program also includes Wayne Shorter's "Fall," Enoch
Smith Jr.'s arrangement of "Blackbird," and "Feet in the
Mud," composed by Perdomo.

Mimi Jones
Born in New York City (in 1972) and raised in the Bronx, Mimi Jones attended
Fiorello LaGuardia High School and earned a B.A. in music at the Manhattan
School of Music Conservatory. She missed her graduation, however, because she'd
been hired to tour Japan with saxophonist Masa Wada and drummer Denis Charles.
It was the first of numerous overseas tours that would take her to Africa,
Europe, Asia, and the Americas, some under the auspices of the U.S. State
Department. In addition to leading her own groups, Jones has worked with jazz
artists including Kenny Barron, Joanne Brackeen, Terri Lyne Carrington (who
chose Jones to play on her Grammy-winning The Mosaic Project), Ravi Coltrane,
Lizz Wright, Toshi Reagon, Roy Hargrove, and many more. She has previously
recorded two albums as leader -- A New Day (2009) and Balance (2014), both for
Hot Tone Music.

Perdomo and
Jones, who have been a couple for the last 12-plus years, frequently work
together, both on the stage and in the studio. "I was afraid for the
longest time of having my wife in my band," says the pianist. "What
if we have a fight, and if affects the music? But actually she knows what
influences me, what I like and don't like -- and she's a solid bass
player."

On Wednesday 6/1, Luis Perdomo will perform a
CD release show for Montage at the Jazz Standard, NYC, with special guest The
Controlling Ear Unit (Luis Perdomo, p; Mimi Jones, b/voc; Rudy Royston, d).
Other Perdomo dates include: 7/25-7/31 Langnau (Switzerland) Jazz Nights; 10/21
Café Tra le rigge, San Severo, Italy; 10/29 Jazzkeller Esslingen (Germany).The Mimi
Jones Band will be appearing 5/7 at
Casita Maria Center for the Arts in the Bronx (3:00-3:45 pm, free/outdoors),
with a New York City CD release show soon to be announced. Other dates include
7/9 at the Lighthouse Jazz Festival, Michigan City, IN; 7/11 Arts Incubator,
Chicago; 9/6 Jazz Showcase, Chicago; and 9/10 IRock Jazz Festival, Holland, MI.
A Japanese tour is set for 10/5-17, and a European tour for November.

Monday, April 25, 2016

For his new album Holding the Stage: Road Shows, vol. 4, the
great tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins once again taps into his vast archives of
his own concert recordings to compile superior performances for release in the
acclaimed Road Shows series. The album encompasses some 33 years (1979-2012)
yet coheres with all of the compelling logic and narrative force of an extended
Sonny solo.

Holding the Stage, to be released by Doxy Records digitally April 8 and on CD April 15, the
second album in a distribution agreement with Sony Music Masterworks and its
jazz imprint OKeh, is truly a treasure chest that includes tunes Rollins has
never before recorded and musical relationships previously undocumented.
"This album consists of various periods of my career, with something for
everybody," says Rollins. "It's who I am, and the music represents
just about every aspect of what I do."

Three Rollins originals pay tribute to departed friends and
colleagues. The soulful blues "H.S.," for Horace Silver, has been a
concert staple since its appearance on Sonny's 1995 Milestone album Sonny
Rollins +3. Saxophonist/arranger Paul Jeffrey, who died last year at 81, is
remembered in the funky "Professor Paul," a new composition making
its recorded debut here. Of "Disco Monk," from 1979's Don't Ask
(Milestone) and rarely performed since, Rollins told CD annotator Ted Panken:
"It was disco-disco-disco then, everywhere you went, but I heard something
juxtaposed with [Thelonious] Monk within this disco craze, and I wanted to meld
them in a way that both styles would be themselves and yet be one."

Another highlight is a previously unreleased 23-minute
medley (and concert closer) from his September 15, 2001 Boston performance,
most of which had been immortalized in Rollins's final Milestone album, the
Grammy Award-winning Without a Song: The 9/11 Concert. "Sweet
Leilani," introduced on his This Is What I Do album of the year before,
morphs into a richly evocative solo cadenza and an epically ecstatic
"Don't Stop the Carnival."

In the Harlem of his youth, Rollins told Panken, "music
was happening on every street corner. So the idea of 'keep the music going' is
in that song. Don't stop the carnival. In the case of 9/11, that was
especially prophetic."

Since launching his Doxy Records imprint in 2006 with the
Grammy-nominated studio album Sonny, Please, Sonny Rollins has been turning to
his concert recording archive dating back nearly 40 years for release on the
label. The selections in Volume 1 (2008) spanned nearly three decades and
included a trio track from the saxophonist's 50th-anniversary Carnegie Hall
concert, while Volume 2 (2011) focused primarily on his historic 80th-birthday
concert at New York's Beacon Theatre. Volume 3 (2014) marked the first
recording of "Patanjali" and hinged on a stunning 23-minute
excavation of Jerome Kern's "Why Was I Born?"Holding the Stage: Road Shows, vol. 4 was produced by
Rollins and his longtime engineer, Richard Corsello. Personnel includes
trombonist Clifton Anderson; pianists Stephen Scott and Mark Soskin; guitarists
Bobby Broom, Peter Bernstein, and Saul Rubin; bassists Bob Cranshaw and Jerome
Harris; drummers Kobie Watkins, Perry Wilson, Victor Lewis, Jerome Jennings, Al
Foster, and Harold Summey Jr.; and percussionists Kimati Dinizulu, Sammy
Figueroa, and Victor See Yuen.

No cameras. No audience. To record Culcha Vulcha, their 11th
album and first true studio album in eight years, Snarky Puppy decamped to a
pecan orchard at the remote Sonic Ranch Studios in Tornillo, TX, a five-minute
walk from the Mexican border. The Texas-bred and Brooklyn-based collective used a
week in isolation to record nine original tracks that showcase a darker hued
sound while also proving why Rolling Stone calls them "one of the more
versatile groups on the planet right now." Influenced by the travels of
their nearly constant world tours, which have seen the band play over 1,200
shows on six continents, sounds from places like Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro and
Buenos Aires effortlessly mingle with strains of Motown, vintage J.B.'s and the
music of Dallas, TX churches that were so crucial to Snarky Puppy's formative
years. Culcha Vulcha, out April 29th on GroundUP

Music and Universal Music
Classics, finds Snarky Puppy utilizing a sonically creative approach to both
composition and performance. The melodies are intricate, the counterpoint is
fluid, and groove reigns supreme in mixes that are bass and percussion-heavy.

The album begins with a funky mix of Dallas and Mumbai
called "Tarova," or as the band lovingly refers to it, "First
Bollywood Baptist." Dallas keyboard legend Bobby Sparks (Marcus Miller,
D'Angelo, Lalah Hathaway) takes the first solo of the album while retro horn,
piano, and organ sounds provide a sharp contrast with a contemporary groove
rich in Southern accent and Indian percussion. Things take a darker turn with
Justin Stanton's "Gemini," a downtempo brew with Motown as the base.
Slide guitars, effected violin, and rich vocal pads from trumpeter Mike
"Maz" Maher provide an eerie gloss over the constant pulse of Larnell
Lewis and Robert "Sput" Searight's unison drum patterns, while a
driving, McCartney-esque bassline from Michael League keeps the low end rich
and dominant throughout. "Big Ugly" is a slow burn, unhurriedly
working its way through eerie melodies and mellotron chords to a heavy,
syncopated groove that serves as the foundation for an electric violin solo
from Zach Brock. Things get sparse to make way for three-part Moog melodies and
the instantly-recognizable sound of Bobby Sparks on clavinet before a simple,
powerful groove develops with the aid of massive drum sounds and a sea of
analog synthesizers as Cory Henry soars above it on Moog.

The "D.I.Y juggernaut" (New York Times) released
the acclaimed album Family Dinner Volume Two in February, featuring
collaborations with David Crosby, Laura Mvula, Salif Keita, Becca Stevens and
more. Snarky Puppy also won a "Best Contemporary Instrumental Album"
GRAMMY that same month for Sylva, their 2015 collaboration with the Metropole
Orkest. It was their second win, following a "Best R&B
Performance" GRAMMY for the Lalah Hathaway collaboration
"Something" in 2014. The band made their SXSW debut earlier this
month, and were picked as one of the "25 Artists You Need To See" at
the festival by Rolling Stone.

The band will continue their 2016 World Tour with a North
American leg that kicks off with a set at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage
Fest on April 28.

Zmei3 (pronounced zmay-tray) is made up of Romanian
immigrants whose beautiful and heartfelt music rises from the harsh realities
and struggles of a post-Communist rule.Their debut album Rough Romanian Soul (out now on Six Degrees Records)
is produced by GRAMMY® award-winner, Ian Brennan, best known for his work with
Tinariwen, Zomba Prison Project, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, and the Malawi Mouse
Boys.Zmei3 being huge fans of Brennan’s
work, successfully raised funds via Kickstarter to cover recording costs,
travel, and more.They flew Brennan to Romania
and began recording the album in August 2015 live without overdubs in the
Transylvanian mountains, just a stone’s throw away from Dracula’s Castle.

The band is fueled by powerhouse vocalist, Paula Turcas, a
trained, soprano opera singer who gave up classical music in the pursuit of a
more truthful artistry grounded in the struggles of everyday life. When she was three years old – the daughter
of the village priest – began to sing the traditional Romanian folk songs. She
would sing with such despair that when people passed by, her father would lift
her up on the table and people would stop and listen with tears in their
eyes. Her voice remains so visceral that
Berlin’s Der Tagesspiegel newspaper stated, “When Zmei3 are playing, it’s not
rare that tears are falling in the audience.” Their sound is made all the more
unique by featuring vibraphone virtuoso, Oli Bott, for their lead
instrument.Mihai Victor Iliescu leads the talented group on guitars and lyrics,
with Arnulf Ballhorn on double bass. The
band’s name is inspired by an ancient Romanian anti-hero, misfit dragon – a rebellious
figure, who rarely prevails, but remains committed to his ideals.

The name of the album, Rough Romanian Soul is an ode to
Romanian music entrenched with a deep history of regional blues and soul, as
well as the inherent spirituality of their work. Turcas adds, “The land is rough and the
people strong, and our legacy is one of survival.” Music from Transylvania is not commonly
associated with aggressive styles mashing up blues and soul with influences of
jazz, avant-garde, and folk with such introspective topics and emotive
soundscapes. But that is exactly what
Zmei3 succeeds in doing on their fifteen-track debut. Bott explains, “We had more than three albums
worth of material and many of our most famous songs live were left off the
album, in exchange for newer and more challenging material.”

Across the fifteen songs, Zmei3 cover topics of resistance,
immigration, oppression, love, death, pride, loneliness, and strength. “2 Mai” / 2nd of May is story of 2 Mai, a
village at the Black Sea, close to the border with Bulgaria, which was a haven
for hippies who wanted to escape the constraints of the communist regime. “Poveste Din Tara Mea” / Story From My
Country is about the feelings of an immigrant who left behind everything that
he loved. A father is telling his little girl that she should never forget that
there’s a country, a lost paradise, and that one day they will seek revenge on
those who destroyed it. “Shhh!!! … Tot
Ce Nu Se Spunea Atunci” / Shhh!!! … All The Forbidden Speech is an improvised
song, created around all the things, ideas and thoughts that were forbidden
during the 45-year repressive regime in Romania. “Marie, Marie” / Mary, Mary is an essential
love ballad from southern Romania. A kind of southern blues. “Pana Cand Nu Te Lubeam” / Since I’ve Been
Loving You according to the band says, “It’s a strange coincidence that there
is a Led Zeppelin song with the same title – but maybe it’s no coincidence
since it’s exactly about the same feelings. ‘I’m about to lose…my worried mind’
– only that this song is urban folklore from Bucharest, dating from around
1850.” “Intr-o Zi” / One day is the
band’s slow blues song which was inspired by Bob Dylan’s “Girl From The North
Country Fair.” Other standouts include
“Imn” / Hymn composed without lyrics and dedicated to the human experience,
while “Vis” / Dream is dedicated to the memory of the Resistance fighters from
the 50’s – and to those very few who always choose to fight and resist, even
when it’s clear they have no chance.

Much of the songwriting was done via “instant composition,”
where the producer Ian Brennan pushed the band to create songs and record
simultaneously. All while being inspired
by the environment of the Transylvania mountains that were in view. Brennan expresses, “music should breath,
music should live, and come from inside a person. Equipment is secondary.
Simply a means to an end. The ability to
be high amidst the mountains, to see them, and be there together, lends a
sacredness to this project.” Brennan is
known for capturing the environment in which he records. For example Brennan’s latest release on Six
Degrees Records, Zomba Prison Project was recorded in Malawi, and documented
the music of prisoners at the maximum security prison in Zomba. The album was nominated for a “World Music”
GRAMMY® which garnered critical praise on the cover of the New York Times, as
well as features in CNN, Newsweek, Al Jazeera, NPR, Associated Press, Rolling
Stone, The Guardian, and more.

Brennan concludes, “Eastern Europe in general has been
neglected by the rest of the world in terms of interest and exploration of
music and culture. It has literally and deliberately been treated as a bloc.
There is a great ignorance amongst many as to what Eastern Europe even is after
World War II, so to have vibrant and modern music from Romania is a very
valuable thing.”